Alex McKinnon blasts Cameron Smith over tackle appeal

FORMER Newcastle Knight Alex McKinnon has unleashed on Melbourne Storm skipper Cameron Smith in an interview on 60 Minutes.

In an interview with Liz Hayes, McKinnon opened up about the events of the night in 2014 when a lifting tackle from the Storm's Jordan McLean left him paralysed.

As part of the show, the pair watch the incident again, something McKinnon hasn't done since it happened.

He places blame not on McLean, the man whose tackle left him lying on the ground, but on Smith's behaviour afterwards.

"You see someone with two, four, six, eight, nine people around them and you want to debate about a f---ng penalty?" the Aberdeen native says angrily, as he watches Smith continue to ask the referee whether or not the tackle is worthy of a penalty, while he is lying helpless on the ground for several minutes, before eventually being stretchered off the field.